Kereen Getten Books

When Life Gives You Mangoes is set in the Jamaica of Kereen Getten’s childhood; as such the book is evocatively full of sunshine, lush vegetation, and laid back freedom to roam through long summer days.

Clara, the protagonist, is touchingly honest, feisty and wild, but can’t abide being near water. As the story goes on, we realise that something happened last summer that Clara cannot or will not remember. In trying to push everyone away, including her patient and wise father, she runs straight into the arms of her uncle, an exile from the village about whom rumours roam and mistrust hangs.

The book deals with Clara’s amnesia and anxiety with gentleness and kindness, and it’s a great story for exploring mental health and the ways in which we protect ourselves from trauma. In the end it is Clara’s uncle who helps her come to terms with her past, and this beautiful twist leads both to Clara’s healing, and the restoration of her uncle to the village community.

I really enjoyed the themes of redemption and forgiveness, friendship, community and kindness that run through this story, and the taste of another place and culture that it gives the reader. For all these reasons, it’s definitely earns its place on a KS3 library bookshelf!